North American TV deals agreed for World Football Challenge

The organisers of the 2012 World Football Challenge agreed broadcast deals for North America.

Pay-television broadcaster ESPN, the Fox network, as well as Spanish-language broadcaster Univision signed deals for the US. WFC’s broadcast partners in Canada include sports broadcaster TSN and its sister French-language broadcaster RDS, as well as pay-television broadcaster Rogers Sportsnet.

The nine-game series is organised by the US top-tier football league Major League Soccer and the Creative Artists Agency. It includes teams from Europe, MLS and the Mexican Primera División. The friendly series begins on July 18 with the match between Seattle Sounders and Chelsea and concludes on August 11.

In the US, ESPN will broadcast live five matches on its English and Spanish-language channels ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes. It will also show live coverage online at ESPN3. The matches include: Seattle Sounders v Chelsea, Chelsea v AC Milan, LA Galaxy v Real Madrid, Real Madrid v AC Milan and Real Madrid v Glasgow Celtic.

Fox will broadcast four matches on a live and delayed basis on its English and Spanish-language pay-television channels Fox Soccer and Fox Deportes. It will show live coverage of Real Madrid v Santos Laguna on both channels. Toronto FC v Liverpool will be shown live on Fox Soccer with delayed coverage on Fox Deportes. Chelsea v Paris Saint-Germain will be shown live on Fox Soccer. Delayed coverage of DC United v Paris Saint-Germain will be broadcast on both channels.

Univision will broadcast live one match (Chelsea v Paris Saint-Germain) on its 24-hour sports channel Univision Deportes Network.

In Canada, TSN will broadcast four matches on its TSN2 channel, including: Chelsea v Paris Saint-Germian, LA Galaxy v Real Madrid, Real Madrid v Santos Laguna and Real Madrid v AC Milan. Sister French-language channel will broadcast Chelsea v Paris Saint-Germain on its RDS2 channel.

Pay-television broadcaster Rogers Sportsnet will broadcast live one match on July 21 – Toronto FC v Liverpool.